Islam, Objects, and Everyday Life

What makes an object Islamic? How do everyday items of use, wear, devotion, and observation help us understand the various modes of Muslim materiality? This workshop is designed to deepen and integrate the thoughts of contributors to a volume on Islamic objects. Each participant approaches the question of materiality in Islamic contexts through a single object: West African prayer beads, a widely circulated image of a young Prophet Muhammad, the uniform worn by Nation of Islam women, a cistern that provided water to a diverse community, a lamp central to Bektashi practice, a standard (ʿalam) used by South Asian Shi'is, a coin marked by fish, the tablets used in learning the Qur'an, images of the Prophet’s sandal, a lapel pin worn by Five Percenters, an amulet used to heal and bless, and others. These examples from the USA, South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East represent multiple ways of materializing faith and life, thereby challenging many of the available theoretical models of material culture.